Prologue
“Death and Chocolate”
1. What is odd or out of the ordinary about the subtitle DEATH AND CHOCOLATE?
2. How do you feel after reading the first 6 lines?
3. Who appears to be the narrator of the story?
4. What does Death describe as his “saving grace” or his “distraction” from his work?
5. Considering the meanings of the colors, why might Death prefer a “chocolate-colored sky”?
6. What does Death say he often needs “distraction from?” What does this suggest about him?
7. Consider questions 1 and 2 again and your answers. How have your answers changed since
reading further?
8 Who does Death say will be the topic of his story?
9. Identify the literary techniques in the following lines:
I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable.
Personally I like a chocolate covered sky.
It helps me relax.
10. Diction (an author’s choice of words) contributes to the reader’s identification of tone (the
author’s attitude toward his subject). What tone is the Zusak creating in this first chapter?
What words help you to determine this?
“Beside the Railway Line”
11. What appears to be the situation described in this chapter?
12. Why might Death describe the day at first as white—“the blinding kind”?
13. What is the Death insinuating about the guard when he describes him as having a “juicy red
face”?
14. What “mistake” does Death make?
15. Identify the literary techniques in the following lines:
It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow.
The world was sagging now, under all that snow.
“The Eclipse”
16. Why does Death describe the setting as “black” this time?
17. Describe the setting the second time Death sees the book thief.
Consider these words/descriptions: the pilot was in uniform, the book thief and another
child came running to see, a crowd eventually joined them, “the recognition of another
soul gone.” When/where might this setting be?
18. Explain the irony and imagery in the following line: “The smiling bear sat huddled among
the crowded wreckage of the man and the blood.”
“The Flag”
19. What is Death describing in the first paragraph? Why does he use the color red?
20. What does Death say the book thief longed to do this time he saw her? Why?
21. What does Death do that allows him to know and retell her story?
22. What are the colors Death associates seeing the book thief the three times he did? What do
these colors signify?
23. What is Death going to “show” us?